


Isolated

by apollonious



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Butt Plugs, F/F, Generic Virus, Isolation, Lesbian Sex, M/M, Masturbation in Shower, Pandemics, Phone Sex, Quarantine, oh my gods they were QUARANTINED ROOMMATES, oh my gods they were quarantined, oh my gods they were roommates, there's a brief digression into medievalism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:21:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23608258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollonious/pseuds/apollonious
Summary: In the midst of self-isolation due to a global pandemic, Astrid is surprised when her relationship with her roommate and best friend takes on a new dimension.Meanwhile, her neighbor Hiccup learns to deal with a kind of loneliness he's never felt before.
Relationships: Eret/Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Heather/Astrid Hofferson
Comments: 17
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Friday night - day 11 of self-isolation**

Astrid Hofferson stood, feet a little farther than shoulder-width apart, with her hands braced in front of her on the floor of her shower. Her phone was centered, screen-up, between her hands, next to the bottle of lubricant she'd just used on the blue silicone dildo mounted to the wall behind her.

Leaning back, Astrid reached up between her legs and gripped the dildo's slick surface, guiding it toward her waiting slit. As it nudged against her, though, Astrid had a thought, grabbing the bottle of lube again and straightening up. She turned, squeezing out a little more into her hand, and spread it along the dildo's length. She bit back a giggle as she realized she was using the same swirling motions she would to give a handjob on an actual penis, then, having turned back to resume her prior position, reached up and deposited the excess lube along her slit. 

She leaned her hips toward the wall again, feeling the head of the dildo press against her. It wasn't going in, though. She'd chosen the dildo specifically because it was small, hoping to ease her way back into penetrative toys after six months of having nothing bigger than a tampon inside of her. And her fingers, on occasion, when she'd felt the need for something more than clitoral stimulation. But it still wasn’t going in.

Astrid took several deep breaths, continuing to lean her hips back and press against the silicone head.

Her eyes slid shut in concentration.

Then, suddenly, they flew open again, her breath coming in a sharp gasp through her nose as the dildo slipped inside her all at once. It didn't fill her, exactly, but she could definitely feel it there, the ridge of its glans and the veins that ran the length of its shaft. She took a few shaky breaths, trying to will her muscles to relax. It hadn’t hurt, not really, but the suddenness of the entry had been more than a little jarring.

She'd been turned on when she got in the shower, having read a few steamy stories online so that she'd be relaxed when she tried this. But it didn't seem to have done much.

Closing her eyes again, Astrid experimentally lifted her hips away from the wall and settled back against it a few times, feeling herself ease around the silicone shaft a little.

Ass pressed against the wall of the shower, she opened her eyes with a sigh.

This did not feel sexy.

A knock sounded on the bathroom door. Astrid's head whipped toward it as she breathed in sharply, eyes wide. She felt herself tense around the dildo all over again.

"Hey Astrid, you okay in there?" a voice called.

"Uh, yeah, I'm okay," she said. "Why? What's up? Did you need something?"

"If you're not going to shower, can I have the bathroom for a minute? I need to pee."

"Um, just a second," Astrid said. "I'm already naked. Just let me turn the water on and you can come in." Carefully, she eased herself off the dildo, feeling every veiny ridge and especially the edge of the glans on its way out, and pulled the shower curtain shut with a loud, scraping rattle. She grabbed her phone and set it safely on the edge of the tub, between the shower curtain and its plastic liner, then reached over and turned on the water.

A moment later, Heather came in, and Astrid busied herself with wetting and then washing her face, trying not to listen as Heather used the toilet. 

"Is it okay if I flush?" she asked.

Astrid stepped back, out of the flow of the water, the back of one thigh bumping into the dildo still mounted to the shower wall. "Go ahead."

Heather washed her hands before heading out—a solid twenty seconds, Astrid noted. At least.

As the door shut behind her roommate, Astrid turned away from the stream of the water, looking at the blue silicone dick she'd stuck to the wall. 

It was hard to believe she'd already gotten to this point. She hadn't even been cooped up this last week, not the way Heather had been, as being an (apparently) essential worker had meant she had to leave their apartment to go to work. 

But here she was, trying to fuck herself on a dildo that had sat in the drawer of her nightstand for a month, ever since the night she’d bought it. 

Gods knew what Heather had been getting up to when she wasn't here.

She couldn't turn the water off, not without rousing Heather's suspicions. But she turned it away from where her head would be when she was bent over again, so that it was running down the side wall of the shower. Propping one foot on the edge of the tub, she reached down and started working at her clit, starting with light, teasing touches and using more pressure when she felt herself begin to respond. She leaned against the shower wall with a low, sighing moan, feeling her breath quicken. When her head lolled back, she figured she was probably ready to try again. 

She bent down to pick up the bottle of lube. When she and the blue silicone were both slick—more lube never hurt—she leaned forward again, backing herself up to the dildo and reaching back to guide herself down on it.

It went in easier this time, and after a couple deep breaths to steady herself, Astrid began to move. The sound of the water actually helped, distracting her so that her focus wasn't only on the rigid silicone inside her and drowning out the sound of her skin against the wall. The warmth on her back felt nice too. She hadn't taken out her braid, so she didn't have to worry about her hair hanging in her face; instead it hung over her shoulder in a thick rope that dripped onto the shower floor.

She shut her eyes, trying to imagine that it was the dildo moving rather than her. After a moment's hesitation, she thought about hands gripping her hips, small hands with long, delicate fingers, their nails neatly filed and buffed down, freshly painted with shiny red nail polish. With a little moan, she reached for her clit once more, rubbing it in tight circles.

She transferred her weight onto the balls of her feet, lifting her hips a little to adjust the angle until— _oh._

_There we go._

It wasn't too much longer before she emerged from the bathroom, her hair wrapped up in a towel and her bathrobe belted securely around her waist. She'd cleaned off the dildo in the bathroom sink, making sure to get the lube mixed with her own mess that had collected under the rim of its glans. Since it was non-porous silicone, she could just toss it in the dishwasher to clean it, but the only thing Heather would object to more than that would be her just leaving it in the shower. Which Astrid would never do, of course.

It was in one pocket of her robe now, the bottle of lube in the other. Phone in hand, she walked out into the hall.

Heather was sitting at the kitchen table, her black hair loosened around her shoulders in a way that made Astrid's stomach flutter, even after the relief she'd just given herself. The red nail polish Astrid had watched her apply earlier was still sitting off to one side as Heather leafed through a thick book, taking notes in a spiral notebook as she went. 

"Is VikingCon still on this year?" Astrid asked.

Heather looked up from her notes, rolling her eyes with a sigh. "If you mean the International Society of Medievalists, they're still deciding. The conference was scheduled for August, before most universities start up again, so..." She shrugged. "I guess we'll see. They're still taking submissions for _This Year in Medievalism,_ though."

"What are you working on?" Astrid asked. 

Heather held up a second, smaller volume. "Gawain is worrying me again."

Astrid nodded. Heather often worried about Gawain.

Heather looked up at her, seeming to realize for the first time that Astrid was wearing only a thin, clinging robe. She blushed slightly, her bright green eyes widening slightly as they slid down Astrid’s body, catching on her hip before darting away.

Astrid looked down to see the blue tip of her dildo poking out of her pocket. As Heather got up to go to the fridge, she pulled it from her pocket and tossed it down the hall into her room, where it hit the floor and bounced out of view. 

Heather returned to the table, a small bottle of apple juice in hand, not looking directly at Astrid. 

"Are you turning in soon?" Astrid asked.

Heather nodded. "I'm not sure how much further I'm going to get tonight. I think I've got a good thesis, but the trouble is finding enough meaty passages to support it."

Astrid’s lips curled in a smile, and she noticed despite herself that Heather’s eyes flicked toward them. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Heather said, smiling. Her expression sobered for a second. "Have you thought at all about going back to school for your master's?"

Astrid shrugged. "Maybe. Once this is all over."

Heather nodded, looking down at her books again. "Yeah. After we've made it through."

* * *

**Sunday afternoon - day 13 of self-isolation**

Astrid was struggling.

It wasn't the virus itself she was worried about, not on a personal level—she was young enough that, even if she caught it, she'd be unlikely to suffer a serious outcome, and she didn't really have any family in the area to pass it on to. It was just her and Heather.

She was concerned, of course; it was impossible to be living in the middle of a pandemic, to see what the world was going through, and not worry about how things were going to pan out. Whatever the world looked like when this was over, Astrid was sure it would have transformed into something unrecognizable as the world she knew.

Trying to imagine what she'd do then was almost impossible, no matter what she'd told Heather. And thinking about it now wouldn't do her any good.

No, what Astrid was preoccupied by—what she was struggling with—was Heather herself.

She'd barely seen her roommate in the last two days. She knew Heather was prone to isolating herself, and had been as long as she'd known her, but it had never been like this before.

Normally, on Saturday evening, Heather would make a big meal for the two of them to eat over the course of the evening, usually with enough leftovers for several days. But yesterday, her door had only opened twice, for mere minutes each time. Heather had barely looked at Astrid when she'd come out and made herself a sandwich, despite the fact that Astrid was lounging on the sofa, watching one of their favorite shows. 

And today, Astrid hadn't heard or seen anything.

She was in her room, curled up in bed and watching a movie on her laptop. She wasn't really focusing on it, though, instead trying to figure out what could be going on.

On Friday night, as she'd been coming back from a late-night trip to the bathroom, she'd heard the distinctive buzzing of a vibrator coming from behind Heather's door, accompanied by soft, throaty moans that Astrid had heard from her roommate often enough before, though she'd never drawn them out of her herself.

It wasn't that she didn't like Heather, that she wasn't attracted to her—Astrid didn't think it was possible to spend any amount of time with Heather without forming some kind of attraction for her. And it wasn't that Heather didn't like girls; she did, almost exclusively. She just hadn't ever given any indication that she liked _Astrid._ Not like that, anyway. Astrid had developed a crush early on—half a decade ago now—that had stubbornly refused to go away, no matter how many partners each of them went through. But if Heather felt the same, if Heather even found Astrid attractive, she'd never shown it.

But she'd never acted like this either, never shut herself off so completely from Astrid.

Astrid found herself looking up as Heather's door opened again. There was a pause, and then Heather knocked on her door. 

"Astrid?”

Astrid paused her movie, sitting up to look toward the door. “Come in.”

Her bedroom door swung inward. Heather stood there. She was wearing black leggings and a loose gray t-shirt that hung halfway down her thighs. Her feet were bare; Astrid hadn’t seen her put on shoes in more than a week. 

“Hey,” she said, tucking a loosened strand of black hair behind her ear. 

“Hi,” Astrid said. “What’s up?”

Heather walked over half-cautiously, folding one leg underneath herself as she sat on the corner of Astrid’s bed. “Can we talk?”

Astrid shut her laptop, setting it off to one side, and got out from under the covers, matching Heather’s cross-legged position. She felt a little underdressed, wearing only the tank top and blue plaid shorts she’d slept in the night before. But Heather wasn’t looking at her body. “Okay. What’s going on?”

Heather wasn’t looking at her at all. She was staring down at Astrid’s bedspread, reaching out one finger out to trace it along the weave of the fabric. “I’m not sure where to start.”

Astrid gulped.

“I... the thing is, I’m not sure if this is just coming out now because it’s been weeks since I’ve even seen another person, let alone, well, you know, or if it’s something else. But ever since the other night, I...”

“What?”

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.” Now Heather met her eyes.

Astrid blushed, remembering the buzzing she’d heard from behind Heather’s door that night. And the moans. Had that been about _her?_

“What do you mean?”

Heather shook her head slightly. “I don’t know, I just saw you in that robe, and you just... you looked—I mean, I’ve seen that robe hundreds of times, so I don’t know why it was that time that did it, but you had that—“ she gestured. “And I realized what you must have been doing, and I started imagining what that must have looked like, and I just...” Heather gestured amorphously. “I just can’t stop thinking about it. About you. And I don’t mean to put any pressure on you, because you’re my best friend, and I love you, and we’ve practically been living together since we were eighteen, and I don’t want to mess that up, but Astrid, I...”

“Yes?”

Heather’s eyes darted back to hers, a fiery light burning in the green. Astrid knew that look, had seen it countless times before in her own partners, had worn it herself often enough. And it told her why Heather was here, even as Heather herself was struggling to. Even as Astrid was struggling a little to believe it. 

Now, though, she knew. And she wanted Heather just as badly as Heather seemed to want her.

Setting her laptop carefully on the floor next to her bed, Astrid rose onto her knees and saw Heather take a long, shaky breath as her green eyes finally ran over Astrid’s body. When Heather raised her eyes to Astrid’s again, they were dark with desire, and her mouth fell open slightly in a way that made Astrid’s head spin. She could only begin to imagine what that mouth might do, though she had a good idea of where it should start. 

“Say it,” Astrid breathed. 

“Can I kiss you?”

Astrid was slightly startled—that had _not_ been what she was expecting. “Do you think it’s a good idea?” she asked. “I don’t want to get you sick. I still have to leave to go to work, after all.”

Heather shrugged. “First you’d have to catch it. And we both know you’re far too careful for that.”

“It’s not just about being careful, Heather.”

She nodded. “I know. But I trust you, Astrid.”

Those words—that sentiment—touched something in Astrid, and she felt her heart make a sort of keening sound as she looked at Heather, the fire still burning in her friend’s eyes making desire start to pool low in her belly. She didn’t know—and she suspected Heather didn’t even know, not for sure—what was motivating it, if it was just because Heather was lonely and touch-starved and horny, or if there was something else. Something more. And even if there wasn’t, even if this was just a one-time thing to take the edge off, Astrid could live with that. She was all of those things too, and this was _Heather._

Feeling herself nodding, Astrid walked across the bed on her knees. Heather rose up to meet her, so that for a long moment, they were simply kneeling in front of each other, green eyes looking into blue, before Heather’s hand reached out, and her nails dragged gently across Astrid’s shoulder. 

Astrid gasped, almost overwhelmed even by this simple touch—she hadn’t so much as _touched_ another human in a _week_ —and before she knew it, her hands were buried in Heather’s hair, pulling her close to kiss her soundly, exulting in the way Heather gasped against her mouth and scrabbled at her back. Everywhere Heather touched her felt like electricity was crackling through it, her skin prickling with once-familiar sensation. She felt one of Heather’s hands curl around the back of her neck as Heather’s lips teased and tested her own, gently biting at her lower lip so that Astrid moaned.

She let herself be borne back onto her bed, moaning and gasping as Heather’s hot mouth and nimble, long-fingered hands seemed to set her skin alight. Her hands were still in Heather’s hair, and she pulled her back up for a kiss, tasting Heather’s lips with the tip of her tongue until they parted, letting her tongue slip inside to meet Heather’s.

Astrid could feel Heather’s hand sliding up the outside of her tank top to palm one of her breasts, moaning against Astrid’s mouth as a nipple hardened beneath her thumb. Astrid couldn’t believe how sensitive she was, how much Heather’s touch was affecting her even through the thin cotton barrier. Her hands went to Heather’s waist, yanking the loose gray fabric of her t-shirt out of the way so she could get to the bare skin of Heather’s back. Skin that was so smooth, so soft, muscles flexing beneath as Heather threw her head back, gasping at the sensation of skin on skin. Astrid curled her fingers, slowly dragging her nails across Heather’s back and relishing the needy little moan this produced. She remembered Heather raving about the way this felt, after she’d come home with her back covered in red lines from the nails of the girl she’d slept with. She’d actually come into Astrid’s room to show the marks off, hissing at Astrid’s touch as she gingerly ran her fingers over them. The girl—Nadia, some part of Astrid’s brain remembered distantly—had actually broken skin in a couple of places, though they’d scabbed over by the time Heather got home. Emboldened by Heather’s response, Astrid scratched her harder, and was rewarded when Heather’s kisses intensified, her legs tensing around Astrid’s. 

Her mouth fell to Astrid’s throat, and Astrid gave a squeaky, throaty little sound as she felt Heather sucking a bruise there; she’d told Heather that she liked being marked like this, so long ago—and under the influence of so much alcohol—that she hadn’t thought Heather had remembered. Heather was smirking, though; she could feel the shape of it against her neck, and she could see it once Heather had pulled away with an audible _pop!_ , tweaking Astrid’s nipple as she did. On hands and knees, straddling one of Astrid’s legs, she grinned down at her for a second, just the tips of her incisors showing, before coming down for another kiss.

Astrid could feel herself turning to putty beneath Heather’s hands, and determined not to let Heather take control completely, she wrapped one hand around Heather’s waist, laid the other along one side of her face, and turned them so that she was on top, knees on either side of Heather’s hips. Heather’s grin widened, and for a second it was all Astrid could to to stare at her, her dark hair pooled on the pillow beneath her, cheeks flushed and lips parted. 

It was all the opening Heather needed to slip her fingers under Astrid’s tank top and peel it off over her head. She skated her fingers up Astrid’s bare waist, making Astrid shiver with a soft, sharp gasp, and her eyes fell to Astrid’s naked breasts. She pushed herself up to take one nipple in her mouth and the other between two fingers, and it was only a moment later that Astrid was on her back again, arms around Heather’s neck of their own accord as they kissed, feeling the dampness even through Heather’s leggings as she ground her hips against Astrid’s bare thigh. She knew her own shorts must be getting wet too; she felt the urge to grind against Heather’s thigh, just out of reach of where she wanted to be touched, was starting to get desperate for friction.

She managed to get Heather’s shirt off, and found herself staring, mouth open as she looked up at this glorious woman kneeling on top of her with something like reverence. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen Heather’s boobs—it had been near-impossible to avoid, sharing a room as they had the first year they lived together—but it had been _years,_ and they were somehow even more beautiful than she remembered. 

Heather blushed beneath Astrid’s gaze, and Astrid only had a moment to admit to herself that she was relieved Heather seemed to be just as affected as she was before Heather was leaning down to kiss her again, and Astrid almost sobbed with the sheer intensity of the sensation of skin on skin as their bare chests pressed together. Then Heather’s hand was slipping down toward the waistband of Astrid’s shorts, though the pulled back before her fingers delved beneath, asking Astrid’s consent before she went further.

Breathlessly, Astrid nodded, and a second later her head rolled back to sink into the pillow, her awareness narrowing to the place where Heather’s fingers were now pressing against her clit, already slick with Astrid’s arousal as her friend—her best friend—stroked her gently. She opened her eyes, seeing Heather’s green eyes looking down at her with something like the wonder and lust Astrid herself was feeling. She pulled Heather’s face into her own, kissing her fiercely as Heather worked her clit, pushing first one finger and then another into Astrid and crooking her fingers in a come-hither gesture that soon had Astrid gasping and shaking. 

“Heather!” Astrid groaned, her voice sharp and throaty. “Oh gods, yes, shit, _there!”_

Then she gasped, her vision going white as she spasmed and squeezed around Heather’s fingers, hearing herself cry out as pleasure overtook her and her hand buried itself in Heather’s hair. 

With a final, shuddering breath, Astrid slumped against the bed. Heather withdrew her fingers, and Astrid opened her eyes to see her sucking them clean. She leaned down to kiss her, and Astrid tasted herself on Heather’s lips. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted you to do that,” Astrid said, her voice hardly louder than a whisper. 

“Really?” Heather asked, smiling. 

Astrid nodded, and then Heather was kissing her again, and they were both giggling happily as they clung to each other.

Astrid made a noise of protest as Heather pulled away. She only went to the edge of the bed, though, and Astrid could hardly complain as Heather bent down, pulling her leggings down to reveal the pale curves of her hips and ass. Heather reached for the drawer of Astrid’s nightstand, pulling out a bottle of lube and a familiar blue dildo. Astrid felt herself blushing as Heather turned back to her, now completely naked. 

She hadn’t ever expected to see Heather like this, hair slightly mussed and skin flushed, hadn’t even really let herself hope for it. But now, somehow, she was here. In Astrid’s bed. Smirking at her as she held up the dildo. That smirk made Astrid realize—Heather wanted her to use the dildo. On _her._

“Show me how you like to use this thing?” Heather asked.

Grinning, Astrid nodded.

* * *

**Monday morning - day 14 of self-isolation**

When Astrid woke, she was thrown for a second, unsure where she was. Then she remembered; she and Heather had migrated to Heather’s room the night before, Astrid not wanting to let Heather leave for long enough to get the toy she wanted to show Astrid. They’d fallen asleep in here, cuddled close, concerns over social distancing rather moot after what they’d been doing all evening. They’d only taken a break to eat dinner when their stomachs had loudly rumbled in unison.

Now Astrid blinked sleepily, staring grumpily at the spot on Heather’s nightstand where the alarm on her phone was going off. She reached over and turned it off. Heather groaned, pulling her face away from Astrid’s shoulder, where she’d been snuggled. “Do you have to go?” she asked.

Astrid kissed the tip of her nose. “Afraid so,” she said. “They’re going to make it so I can work from home starting sometime this week, though.”

Heather nodded—Astrid had told her this before—but there was a new edge of mischief glittering in her eyes, making Astrid’s stomach flutter. 

_”Work_ from home,” Astrid repeated, giggling at Heather’s exaggerated pout before the other woman pulled her down into a kiss.

They both jumped at the sound of something hitting the floor hard and then skidding on the other side of Heather’s bedroom wall. A voice exclaimed in what Astrid guessed was frustration; it sounded male, and it sounded like he was swearing. 

Astrid sighed, looking back down at Heather. “Well, if the neighbor’s up, I’d really better get going.”

That made Heather giggle, though she still looked a little forlorn as Astrid stood, phone in hand, and padded over to the open bedroom door. Astrid looked over her shoulder to see Heather pulling the blankets up around her bare chest, looking at Astrid. She smiled, her eyes running over Astrid’s body before looking at her face again.

“Come say goodbye before you leave?” she asked.

Astrid nodded, smiling. “Of course.”

Once she was dressed, hair and teeth brushed and braid in place, and once she’d kissed Heather more than a few times, Astrid let herself out of the apartment, turning to lock the door behind her. She heard the neighbor’s door open and glanced over to see a tall man with floppy red-brown hair, doing much the same as she was. She had to pass him to get to the stairwell, and so she crossed to the other side of the hall, lips curling in a small half-smile to show it was nothing personal, just the recommended social distancing. His answering smile showed he understood, though he opened his mouth to speak as she drew level with him. 

Flushing, Astrid looked down, not wanting to hear any comments he might have about the night before—he was their neighbor on the side of their apartment with Heather’s bedroom. Which meant he was also probably the man they’d heard cursing this morning. She’d never properly introduced herself, but she knew him by sight, and he’d seen her and Heather with each other enough times to know they lived together. 

Belatedly, she realized he was probably just going to say something about how they were both leaving on a morning when few others were. But she wasn’t particularly interested in that either, and so she kept walking. 

Astrid took the stairs as usual, arriving at the lobby almost simultaneously with her neighbor despite the fact that he’d taken the elevator. He beat her to the door, using the end of one of his sleeves as a makeshift glove to open it, walking through and then holding it open for her. He held it at arm’s length, giving her plenty of space, and Astrid found herself smiling at him.

“Thanks,” she said, standing a couple yards away from him on the sidewalk. 

“No problem.” He pulled his car keys out of his pocket. 

“Still having to go to work?” Astrid asked. 

He met her gaze, his eyes a shade of green not dissimilar from Heather’s. “Yeah,” he said, sounding far more tired than he ought to be on Monday morning with the entire week ahead of him. “You?”

Astrid nodded. “I’m supposed to be working from home starting this week, but the tech guys have been a little overwhelmed getting everyone set up.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Where do you work?”

She named a law firm downtown, and the guy laughed.

“You’re kidding,” he said, and then, in response to her questioning look, went on, “I am one of said overwhelmed tech guys. What’s your name?”

“Astrid Hofferson,” Astrid said. 

He nodded. “Okay. I’ll try to make sure you’re on the list for getting out of there today.”

“Thanks,” Astrid said, a little taken aback.

He nodded. “No problem.” He glanced back toward the building. “So I’m sure I’m not the only one having a hard time with the isolation, and we live so close I’d be willing to bet that if one of us gets sick, we both will. Do you two want to come over for dinner sometime? I’ve been told I’m a decent cook.”

Astrid had to admit he had a point, and while she was willing to bet he’d heard more than a little of what they’d done last night, he didn’t seem like he had ulterior motives for inviting them over. “We should probably give it a couple weeks of properly isolating ourselves, just to make sure we’re not sick, but I’ll ask Heather if she’d be up for it.”

The guy nodded. “That sounds good.” He paused. “So is Heather your roommate, or your girlfriend, or...?”

“... Yes?” Astrid ventured, and was rewarded with a grin. “I guess we’ll see when everything settles back down.”

“I’m happy for you,” he said, still smiling. “My boyfriend was in Norway visiting family when self-isolation went into effect, so I haven’t seen him in a couple weeks.”

At least a boyfriend probably meant he hadn’t been perving on her and Heather last night. Though he could be bi, Astrid supposed—she was, and so was Heather. 

“Your boyfriend,” she said, and he nodded. “Is he the one with the...“ she gestured at the region of her chin. 

“Yeah, that’s Eret,” the guy said, a fond note entering his smile. “They’re traditional; his family’s Sami. Reindeer herders,” he said in response to her questioning look.

Astrid nodded. “I’ll do some research,” she said. “We should all go out for drinks when he gets back.”

The guy nodded, grinning. “Sounds good. Have a good day, I’m sure I’ll be talking to you later.”

“See you then,” Astrid said, turning to walk to her car. 

As she went, she realized something. She was making plans. Far from where she’d been yesterday afternoon, she was planning for the future. For after the pandemic. Maybe not that far ahead, but a potential girlfriend and fairly definite hanging-out plans were a big step forward. She was still scared, of course, still worried—but not to the point of being unable to imagine what the world would look like a few weeks or months from now. 

She smiled to herself, pulling her keys out of her pocket.

She had Heather to thank.

For all of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m honestly super nervous about this; it’s the first F/F smut I’ve published that doesn’t more or less fade to black. I hope it came out well.
> 
> At present, this is just a one-shot, although if there’s interest, I do have some ideas for how it might turn into sort of an anthology series-type thing. Let me know what you think, and feel free to message me either on here or tumblr (same username) with any pairing suggestions.
> 
> If you’d like, please leave a comment; feedback is always appreciated. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's only been... what, two and a half months?

**Wednesday night - day 9 of self-isolation**

Despite the fact that he’d been expecting it, the sound of the alert coming from his laptop made Hiccup jump. He rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow, and grinned as he saw the message on the screen, over a blurred-out video chat window:

_Eret Hunter is requesting FaceTime._

Unable to keep his grin from widening, Hiccup hit the “answer” button. The blur vanished from the video chat, replaced by the image of Eret, his long dark hair loosened for sleep and a thin layer of stubble just slightly obscuring the tattoo on his chin. He looked tired, though Hiccup could hardly blame him for that; it was almost three in the morning where he was, nine hours ahead of Hiccup. There was light on his face coming from one side—a lamp on his nightstand, Hiccup figured.

“Hey,” Hiccup said, letting his smile soften with contentment at finally seeing Eret’s face again. They’d spoken on the phone several times in the past couple weeks, but there was nothing quite like actually _seeing_ each other. He clicked the button to make the image go fullscreen. 

“Hi,” Eret said, smiling back at him. His eyes flicked down, away from Hiccup’s face, and widened as he registered the fact that Hiccup wasn’t wearing a shirt. He was shirtless too, but that was more typical for him. “Are you on your laptop?”

“Yeah,” Hiccup said. “I wanted you to be able to see me.”

Eret swallowed thickly, and Hiccup saw his throat bob. He sucked in a sharp breath at the sight, knowing all too well what it felt like to have his cock inside Eret’s mouth when he swallowed like that. Eret glanced over his shoulder, apparently listening for movement.

“I’ve got to be pretty quiet,” he said. “I think everyone’s asleep, but I don’t want to risk waking them up.”

“Okay,” Hiccup said, nodding. For the first time, he noticed that Eret was wearing earbuds, a little mic on one of the wires picking up his voice. Eret might have to be quiet, but Hiccup wouldn’t. His cock twitched, and for a moment he thought about just getting straight to business. But he didn’t want to make Eret try to stay awake any later than he had to, especially right after coming. And he had a bit of a show planned. There was no sense in rushing.

“You look good,” Eret said.

“Thanks,” Hiccup said. “You too, I’ve really missed you.” Eret didn’t respond, but the look in his amber eyes said that he’d missed Hiccup too. They simply looked at each other for a long moment, taking each other in, before Hiccup asked, “How are things over there?”

Eret sighed, rubbing a large hand over his face. “Well enough. They canceled our flights home, and Dad thinks he might be able to force something through, but…” He shrugged. “It’s not safe, either for us or anyone else. And my grandparents and Áhkku are thrilled to have us here longer. So we’re staying for now.”

“Okay,” Hiccup said, nodding. “Yeah, that—that makes sense. Are you okay? I mean, how’s everyone doing?”

“We’re alright,” Eret said. “Worried, of course, but we’re so remote up here I don’t think it’s likely to get to us. It’s a weird feeling, though, like I’m separated from it all, even knowing you’re not. I feel like I should be there with you. And Dad’s been saying the same about his colleagues.”

“Don’t they all have country houses they can escape to, though?” Hiccup asked, a teasing smile on his lips. “You know, little cottages in the Lake District or whatever?”

“Gods,” Eret grumbled, though he couldn’t help but give a small smile. “You bring your boyfriend along on a family holiday _one time…_ ” His smile widened as Hiccup snorted with laughter. “What about you? Are you still going into work?”

“For now,” Hiccup said. “Hopefully not too much longer, though. They’re trying to get everyone out of the office, which means we’re spending the next couple days putting together work-from-home setups.”

“Well, that sounds thrilling.” Eret smirked, and Hiccup found himself unable to look away from the curve of his lips, his own mouth hanging open slightly as his gut tightened. “Hiccup?” Eret said. “You still there?”

Hiccup cleared his throat. “Yeah, sorry. I just—your mouth, I—”

“What about my mouth?”

Hiccup’s cock gave another twitch, and he glanced down to see it had risen to half-mast. He felt his lips curling in a smile, saw the way Eret’s eyes widened and his lips parted at the look on Hiccup’s face. Eret shifted, no doubt pulling down his pajama pants. “I wish it was sucking my cock right now.”

Eret sighed. “Me too,” he said, and Hiccup could hear the way his breath had started to go slightly ragged through the microphone dangling by his cheek. “Gods, you look good.” 

Hiccup reached behind himself and groped around on the bed for a moment until he found what he was looking for. “Are we both just on a hair-trigger right now?” he asked wryly.

“I think so,” Eret said, chuckling, and Hiccup could see his arm—the one not holding his phone—moving slowly, deliberately as he started to stroke himself. “What’s that you’ve got?”

Rather than answering, Hiccup squirted a little lube into his hand from the bottle on his nightstand and reached back to finger himself open. He’d already done so before they started the call, but given the size of the butt plug he’d set on the bed in front of him—not nearly as big as Eret, but still sizeable—just out of sight of the webcam on his laptop, he didn’t want to risk being unprepared. It had taken longer than usual, given that nothing had been in his ass for weeks, and a little more lube never hurt. 

He eased the plug in, opening his eyes once it was past the initial resistance of his rim so he could watch Eret’s face. Then his eyes squeezed shut again, and he was unable to keep a groan from slipping out as the toy nudged at his prostate, sending pleasure jolting through him. When he opened his eyes again, panting a little, Eret was still staring, his eyes dark with desire. Hiccup couldn’t suppress a grin, knowing the way Eret liked to watch him as he was being entered, loved the little expressions that flitted across his face as each inch pressed inside him.

Eret’s hand was still moving slowly, but Hiccup could tell it was a struggle to maintain that control.

“Can I see you?” he asked, his voice rough.

Eret nodded, tilting his phone down so that it panned across the solid muscles of his chest and stomach to where his cock was curving toward his belly, the head swollen and dark purple with blood. As Hiccup watched, Eret pumped himself a few times, and a pearly bead of precum appeared. Hiccup groaned low in his throat at the sight of it. He adjusted his laptop so that Eret could see the full length of his body, then reached down to palm his cock, which had gone completely hard and was starting to leak.

“Shit, Ret,” he whispered hoarsely. 

He could see Eret’s face again, flushed and watching him hungrily. He was breathing through his mouth, huffing softly with each exhalation. The sound was distant as it came through the speakers of Hiccup’s laptop, but that did nothing to lessen the way it sent shivers down Hiccup’s spine. The muscles in Eret’s arm were starting to pick up speed. “You know what I’d do if I was there?” he asked, voice hardly above a whisper.

“What?”

“I’d take you in my mouth, and run my tongue up along your cock, and then—” he paused, his eyes fluttering shut for just a second as Hiccup moaned “—and then… oh, fuck, Hiccup, I just want you.”

“I want you too,” Hiccup said. “I want your mouth on me and your hands in my hair, and I want to hear you say my name like it’s the only word you can remember.” 

_”Hiccup,”_ Eret breathed, and even from thousands of miles away it _did_ something to Hiccup. He could hear the sound of Eret’s hand on his cock, moving quickly. “I want to kiss you.”

“Yes, oh gods, Eret, _yes,”_ Hiccup said. 

“Hiccup.”

“Yeah?”

“I wanna fuck you,” Eret said, his voice hardly above a whisper.

Hiccup could only nod, overwhelmed by the sensations rolling through him. 

“I want to sink deep inside you and feel your muscles clench around me, and I want your legs wrapped around me, and I want to hear those little sounds you make when you’re getting close, and when I kiss your neck, and—” He cut off with a throaty gasp, and Hiccup’s hips bucked forward into his hand. He groaned through gritted teeth as clenching muscles pressed the plug against his prostate. It was almost enough to push him over the edge, and his hand squeezed down _hard_ on his cock, making him curse under his breath.

“I didn’t think I’d be coming this quickly,” he panted, a little sheepishly.

Eret smiled. “It’s fine. I’m just loving watching you.”

Hiccup returned his grin, slowing his hand just a little. “Would you believe me if I told you I was enjoying being watched?”

“Definitely,” Eret said breathlessly. His breath hitched. “Hiccup—”

“Yeah, me too,” Hiccup said, feeling his control start to slip.

They subsided into relative quiet, the only sounds those of their heavy breathing and the moans and grunts that occasionally worked their way out of their throats as they watched each other. Hiccup was the first to crack, seemingly only moments later. He knew he looked utterly debauched, head thrown back as he gasped and cursed, but couldn’t bring himself to care, not when it was Eret watching, Eret who was urging him along even as his own voice grew tighter with his building orgasm.

“Oh fuck, Eret—” Hiccup managed to get out before he came with a strangled cry, spilling over his hand and stomach in thick spurts of white that splattered hot against his skin. 

When he opened his eyes to look back at his laptop, the screen had gone dark, though he could still hear Eret’s heavy breathing. There was the sound of tearing paper—tissues, at a guess—and then a muffled, low, drawn-out groan of pleasure. Hiccup could just imagine Eret with his forearm pressed across his mouth to try and avoid alerting anyone to what he was doing. 

A few moments passed as Eret’s breathing evened out, and then he was picking his phone back up from where he’d dropped it facedown on his chest. When it came into view, his face was slightly dazed, echoing the way Hiccup felt. He blinked a couple of times, smiling as he looked at Hiccup.

Hiccup could see himself in one corner of the display, knew his hair was disheveled and even messier than usual, that his face was flushed in a way that could really only mean one thing, that sweat was starting to roll down his forehead and chest. Keeping his eyes on Eret’s face, he trailed a finger through the mess threatening to spill off his stomach onto the bed and licked it clean, relishing the way Eret’s nostrils flared and his eyes widened all over again. He was familiar enough with the taste of his own cum from the plenty of times he’d kissed Eret right after he’d sucked him off, and it was worth it for the way he knew the sight had affected Eret.

“Shit, babe,” Eret said after a moment, chuckling. “Are you trying to do me in?”

“No, just to do you,” Hiccup said, grinning back. They looked at each other for a moment before he said, “That felt way better than jerking off on camera has any right to.”

“Probably the butt plug,” Eret said sagely.

Hiccup laughed. Eret was probably right, but it was also— “I love you,” he said.

Eret smiled, content. “I love you too.” He stared at Hiccup though the camera, just watching him for a long minute as their breathing and heart rates slowed, as close to together as they could be right now. Then his eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Are you gonna be alright on your own?” he asked. “Your parents would probably let you—”

Hiccup shook his head. “Nah, we’d drive each other crazy. And I still have to work, which would be a lot harder at their place. Besides, I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me.” 

“Okay, then,” Eret said. “But try to get some contact with people, alright? Not in person, of course, but… you know, do what you can.”

Hiccup nodded. “I will.”

“And don’t hesitate to ask if you need any—” Eret’s head jerked up as he looked over his shoulder, then back to the phone. “Shit. I think that’s my gran. No—Áhkku.” He paled visibly. A sound came down the line, as though someone was knocking on Eret’s door. A voice belonging to a very old woman, high-pitched and wavery, asked a question in a language Hiccup didn’t understand, and Eret answered in the same language. “I’d better go,” he said to Hiccup. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Hiccup managed to get out, before Eret shot him one last smile and ended the call. 

He shut his laptop, rolling onto his back with a great sigh. The bed felt too big without Eret here, even though it wasn’t officially _their_ bed. It was the longest Hiccup had gone without Eret here, though, since he’d moved in. 

And by the looks of it, it would be a lot longer before Eret would be back there.

He reached down and slowly eased the plug out of his ass. Despite his gentleness, there was a distinct feeling of emptiness, of _loss,_ as he pulled it out and gently tossed it into the “to be washed” tub next to his nightstand, where it landed with a resounding, hollow thud.

Next he grabbed the packet of wet wipes in the drawer of the nightstand, wiping his chest and stomach clean.

That done, Hiccup leaned back against his pillows again, sighing. Automatically following cleanup procedures could only get him so far. He missed Eret so much it ached, like the phantom pains he still sometimes felt in the foot that wasn’t there anymore. And he knew he had any number of distractions at his fingertips, but none of them felt right. He knew he had to make dinner at some point, that there was probably work he could get done tonight rather than letting it wait for the morning, but right now all he wanted to do was lie there, alone in his empty bed, and allow himself to wallow.

He’d told Eret he would be fine, and he would be.

He had to be.

* * *

**Saturday night, day 33 of self-isolation**

_It would be a mistake to give myself an undercut with a bikini trimmer, right?_

The text message seemed to hang in the ether for a long moment, showing up on the screen of Hiccup’s phone as a little blue bubble. Then, finally, it went through, and the little “Delivered” message appeared.

But he knew Eret wouldn’t be getting it for hours still.

It was almost noon in Norway, and he and his family were spending the day outside, visiting the reindeer herds that they’d tended in generations past, before Eret’s father, Eret Sr., had moved to the UK and settled down with Eret’s mother.

Eret would have taken his camera with him—not his good work camera, which was currently under Hiccup’s desk for safekeeping while Eret was out of the country, but the one he always had on him while traveling—and that, of course, meant he didn’t need his phone. Even if he had taken it with him, there was no cell service in that particular region of the Arctic circle, and so it would have been useless. 

His eyes fell back to the bikini trimmer, a thing of pink plastic sitting on the edge of his bathroom sink. It had been left behind by an old roommate several years—and several roommates—ago, and somehow never gotten thrown out, even when Hiccup had moved in here, his first place on his own.

Part of him wished he still had a roommate. It had been days since he'd seen anyone, and the loneliness was starting to get to him.

An even bigger part of him wished he could text Astrid. But he didn’t have her personal number, and of course she wouldn’t be checking her work email at 3 AM on a Saturday. She was _definitely_ still awake, though, if the sounds coming through the wall into Hiccup’s apartment were any indication. The noises made his chest ache—not that he begrudged her and Heather the sex, which did sound like they were both very much enjoying it, but it felt like every time he was able to forget Eret’s absence for even a minute, the sounds of them being together reminded him just how alone he was.

It was probably safe to say he wasn’t handling being on his own terribly well. 

With a sigh, Hiccup reached for the bikini trimmer and turned it on, twisting the bottom until the sound of buzzing filled his bathroom.

* * *

**Tuesday evening - day 36 of self-isolation**

Hiccup was just unlocking his mailbox when the sound of the stairwell door opening to his left made him jump. He turned to see Astrid emerging, the bottom half of her face obscured by a printed blue cotton mask and her hair pulled back in a hasty braid. 

She stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening as she goggled at him. Even behind her mask, he could see her mouth had fallen open. “What did you _do?”_ she demanded after a moment.

Hiccup sighed, running his hand through his hair, which was not only a good deal shorter than it had been the last time they’d seen each other, but also peroxide-blonde. “I mean, what does it look like I did?”

To her credit, Astrid tried to bite back the first giggle. It didn’t work, though, and Hiccup couldn’t blame her as she burst into cackles, laughing until she was nearly doubled over. “Gods,” she gasped after a minute or so, straightening up, before she saw him and started laughing again. “I’m so sorry,” she said through her giggles.

Despite himself, Hiccup felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, and all in a rush he felt less alone than he had in weeks, warm affection bubbling up in his chest to fill the gap that had been there. “It’s fine,” he said, his voice amused and resigned at the same time. “Still better than Eret’s reaction.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing, for several minutes. He just sat there staring at me.”

Astrid snorted with laughter. “Oh no.” Her smile kept the corners of her eyes crinkled as she looked at him. “How are you doing, y’know, apart from that?”

Hiccup shrugged. “Well enough. Keeping busy and all that. I’ve barely left the house since the last time I saw you.”

Astrid nodded. “Same here. Thanks again, by the way.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“I’m just heading to the grocery store now, do you need anything while I’m out?” she asked.

Hiccup bent down to pick up the bag he’d set on the floor in order to check the mail. “Just got back,” he said.

“Oh, dammit.” Astrid sighed. “We should coordinate so we can minimize how often each of us has to leave. Do you have my number?”

“No, I don’t,” Hiccup said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. 

Astrid rattled it off, nodding as he read it back to her. “Great. And we should do dinner this weekend.”

Hiccup found himself grinning. “Sounds good, I’ve really missed cooking for people.”

“Text me anything you want me to pick up,” she said. 

He nodded, pulling his mail out of the mailbox and stuffing it into his grocery bag. “Will do.”

“Oh, did you get something from Powell’s?” Astrid asked.

He chuckled, a little sheepishly. “Oh, uh, yeah. A couple weeks ago, I guess you guys were talking about something, and I heard”—her cheeks flushed pink, showing up even from behind the mask—“you say ‘gods dammit, Gawain,’ really loud. So I got curious and googled it, and it turns out I’ve never read _Gawain and the Green Knight,_ so I decided to check it out.”

“Oh gods,” Astrid groaned in mock-dismay, despite the fact that she was grinning from ear to ear. “Heather will be so pleased.”

“Is she a big Tolkien fan?” 

“You could say that,” she said, grinning. “Though she views his academic stuff very differently from his fiction. Personally, I don’t really think it’s a reasonable line to draw, but there you go.” She giggled, and Hiccup couldn’t help but grin. “I think she might be rubbing off on me.”

“I haven’t really gotten into his academic stuff yet. I honestly didn’t realize until recently that he had an academic sector of his work.” He held up the package. “Hopefully the lack of dragons in this won’t put me off. Feels weird to not be able to just walk down there and get it, but there you go.”

“Oh, if you like dragons, you should read his _Beowulf_ translation. Heather says she still prefers Heaney, but I haven’t made my mind up yet. She’s reading the Heaney one to me now.”

“When I heard you, was she reading you _Gawain?”_

Astrid nodded, blushing again. “We’ve already gotten through Tolkien’s _Beowulf_ translation, so I’ll see if I can talk her into lending it to you this weekend.”

Hiccup nodded, chuckling. “Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

Her eyes crinkled once more as she smiled, and then she was off, heading out the glass front door of the building. Watching her go, Hiccup’s heart was more full than it had been in weeks.

* * *

**Saturday morning - day 61 of self-isolation**

When the phone rang, Hiccup was curled up on his side in bed, the blankets pulled up over his shoulder and his face tucked into the softness of his pillow. He wasn’t lazing; he was trying to laze, to relax and simply enjoy the feeling of being warm in bed on a day he didn’t have anything to do until his weekly dinner with Astrid and Heather, later that evening, but this was not a world in which it felt possible to laze. It felt like something was pulling at the underside of his sternum, tugging him toward where his phone lay charging on the mattress behind him. Whether it was to check the latest numbers on the virus or to scroll aimlessly through one social media app after another, he couldn’t be sure, but neither seemed all that appealing, and he knew neither would do him any good. There was a strange hollowness behind his ribs, one he hadn’t been able to fill no matter what he tried.

Pulling the blanket tighter around him, he tucked his chin into his chest and shut his eyes, then took a deep breath and let it out.

Then the phone started buzzing, and his eyes snapped open. He rolled onto his back and then squirmed up on his other side, grabbing his phone and pulling out the charger.

It was Eret.

“Hello?”

“Morning, darling,” Eret said. He sounded excited, almost ecstatic, but also like he was trying to keep it under control for the time being. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

Hiccup sat up in bed, “No, I—no, you didn’t. What’s up?”

“I’ve got some good news,” Eret said.

“Yeah?” Hiccup asked, starting to smile despite the malaise he’d felt only moments ago.

“I’ve got a ticket home.”

“What?!” Hiccup exclaimed, feeling the delight and excitement in Eret’s voice wash over him too. 

“Yeah,” Eret said, laughing

“When?”

“Middle of June. Dad’s driving me down to Oslo. I’ve got a couple of layovers, but I should be there before too much longer.”

Suddenly, dread clenched around Hiccup’s heart like an icy fist as he realized what Eret was going to have to go through to get back to him—the flights, the airports, all that time around _so many people._ Instincts he’d developed over the past weeks, to keep from going out in public and to stay away from people, especially the kinds of crowds there would certainly be in airports and planes, rose up in panic at the prospect. 

“So… what?” he asked, trying to keep some of the enthusiasm that he’d lost in his voice, for Eret's sake. “Your dad’s just going to drive down to the city, drop you off, and then go back to your hundred-and-four-year-old great-grandmother?”

“Áhkku’s going to be fine,” Eret said fondly. “My parents are going home too.”

“To London?”

“Yeah,” he said after a moment. “Numbers are starting to go down, and if they’re careful—and they’re going to be careful—they think they should be okay.”

“You should go with them,” Hiccup said, shutting his eyes.

“What?” Eret asked, disbelievingly. 

“It’s not safe here. Our numbers aren’t going down, and I don’t know when they’re going to start going down. I don’t want to risk you, and it’s… it’s safer with your family.”

“Hiccup,” Eret said softly. “I know it’s not safe. I’m scared too.”

“I didn’t say I was—”

“You didn’t have to.” Eret sighed. “Look, I know, but it’s not going to get safer any time soon. They’re going to start lifting restrictions soon, but if anything that’s just going to make it more risky. I need to come home now, or I’m not going to be able to for who knows how long.”

The fist clenched around Hiccup’s heart again at the way Eret said “home”. He didn’t say anything.

“I’ll fly back, get a rideshare from the airport, and quarantine in my apartment for a couple weeks. I’ve got an impossible amount of emails to answer to—so many people have cancelled or rescheduled their weddings, and I need to figure out what I’m going to do about deposits. But I’ll see you before too long, and then—”

“No,” Hiccup said.

“What?”

“No,” he said again, more certain this time. “If you’re set on coming back, I’ll pick you up at the airport, and you can come quarantine at my place.”

“Wha—” Eret spluttered for a moment. “Hiccup, what are you talking about?”

“You can answer emails as well here as you can at your place. Plus I’ve got your good camera. And I really don’t want to wait another two weeks to see you.”

“Hiccup, you were just saying it’s not safe—”

“I know,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut. “I know. But we can make it safer than it would be. Astrid’s already said she’d be willing to get me groceries and then drop them off at my door if the time ever came for you to come home. We don’t ever need to leave. And we’re not moving into the new office until October, so I’ll be working from home for months yet anyway.”

“Are—are you sure?” 

“Yes,” Hiccup said, feeling a strange sort of burning at the back of his throat. “I’m sure. It’s not safe, but nothing’s safe right now. And I want to be with you.”

“I want that too,” Eret said softly. “I—gods, Hiccup, I love you.” He paused. “You think we can handle two weeks, just the two of us in your apartment?”

“I do,” Hiccup said. “And if not… well, then you can go to your place. But I really think we can manage it. And honestly, I don’t want to be alone.”

“But you’re not alone, right? You’ve got Astrid. And Heather.”

“Yeah,” Hiccup said. “But I want _you._ And once you’ve finished your quarantine, we can start doing dinners with them again.”

“Won’t you miss hanging out with them?”

“I mean, sure,” Hiccup said. “But I’ll only miss a couple weekends, and I know you’re going to like hanging out with them.”

“You really are sure about this.”

“Yes,” Hiccup said emphatically. 

Eret laughed, a strange, slightly strangled sound. “Okay.”

Hiccup swiped one hand across his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Eret took a shaky breath. “Let’s give it a shot.”

“Okay.” Hiccup laughed, a little breathlessly. “I’ll see you soon then.”

“Sounds good.” Eret paused a moment. “I should probably go,” he said. “I just wanted to let you know.”

“I’m glad you did,” Hiccup said. “I’m really excited to see you.” 

“Me too. I’ll text you the details, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. That… that sounds good, I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Alright. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Hiccup said. “Tell the folks I said hi.”

Eret chuckled. “I will.”

When they’d hung up, Hiccup flopped onto his back, letting the phone fall onto the bed next to him. He grabbed the spare pillow—Eret’s pillow, though it had lost his scent—and pressed it over his face, trying to slow his shuddering breath as tears of relief and worry seeped out of him. He was going to see Eret again. Soon. 

And Eret was going to have to cross half the world to get to him.

They’d been together almost three years, and in all that time, they’d never really talked about moving in together—Eret’s job meant he needed a dedicated studio space, and Hiccup had always had roommates, and then he’d wanted to have his own place for a bit before living with a partner. But now that the prospect was in front of them, even if only for a few weeks, Hiccup couldn’t wait. 

He laughed a little despite his fear, running his hands through his hair, where there was almost a month’s growth of auburn poking out from beneath the blonde.

The hollow in his chest hadn’t filled, not by a long shot, but there was somehow less ache to it now.

He didn’t know what was going to happen, and he really didn’t know how this was going to go, but he knew, whatever did happen, he would face it with Eret by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the second installment of this. There are plans for a third one, but I don't know when that will be. 
> 
> Please do leave a comment if you're so inclined.


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